Interview with Mae Frazier, December 8, 1988

Interview Summary

Mae Frazier was born in 1912 in what is now Hot Spot, Kentucky in Letcher County. Former names for the town include Dalna and Elsiecoal. She remembers that her father leased a team of mules to the coal company. Her father died when she was eight and her mother never remarried. Instead, her mother supported the family through their farm. They raised sheep and made their cloth and clothes from the wool. Frazier talks about the isolation on the farm and the importance of the coal company opening up the mines. She talks about difficulties during the Depression. She was teaching at this time and only making $48.10 a month. She states that she felt paralyzed about being unable to make more money for the family. She later became a nurse, and in 1944 she and her mother moved to Lexington.

Interview Keyword

Appalachian people Appalachian social issues Coal mining Dalna (Ky.) Elsa Coal (Ky.) Family farms Gender roles Hotspot (Ky.) Letcher County (Ky.) Mineral rights Premium (Ky.) Great Depression Economic conditions Families Farming Homemaking Livestock Education Women's work

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region Frazier, Mae, 1912- Frazier, Mae, 1912- --Interviews

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.